Smart Cities on the Agenda of Integration Associations

Introduction. The article gives an overview of integration associations’ policy for smart city development. The existing rates of urbanization and the growth of the economic weight of cities give rise to new challenges and opportunities, which for the developed integration associations can no longer be considered exclusively at local or national levels. Consequently, there is a growing demand from integration associations for the formation of common approaches to smart city management. The authors examine the efforts of the European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations undertaken for the development of smart cities and give recommendations for the Eurasian Economic Union.

Materials and methods. The methodologi­cal basis of the study includes the following gen­eral scientific methods of cognition of processes and phenomena: an analytical approach, qualitative analysis and comparative analysis. The examined materials include official documents of integration associations, analytical reports of international organizations and studies of domestic and foreign scientists.

The choice of the research topic is justified by the urbanization rates with the increasing importance of public management quality and drafting of a long-term agenda for the development of agglomerations. Smart cities become interested in managerial cooperation with other cities, harmonization of approaches and exchange of best practices. The universal theory of smart cities is to yet formed, but in real life, efforts are already being made to develop a common knowledge and experience base: smart cities create platforms for interaction, sign agreements, draw ratings and develop management and technical standards. Some integration groups already began to single out smart cities as a separate area of their activity. We can forecast that the topic of smart cities will become the key one for all integration  associations,  including  EAEU.  For Russia, as for a country that is currently developing its own standards for managing smart cities, this issue is of fundamental importance: cooperation with the countries of the Union can serve as an additional source of knowledge and experience and will create strategic opportunities and advantages for the domestic IT industry.

Results. The European Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations were the first to put the issue of smart city development on the agenda. Meanwhile, these organizations have taken two different paths: the EU is simultaneously working on a whole set of initiatives to develop common approaches and standards for smart city approaches and standards. ASEAN is so far limited to having a platform for financial and informational assistance to particular cities.

Discussion and conclusions. Within the formation of the common digital space for the EAEU, the issue of joint development of smart cities should  be included into the integration agenda. The experience of the EU and ASEAN may be useful for the Eurasian Economic Union, whose interest in smart cities is just beginning to emerge. The simultaneous creation of a platform of smart cities and the development of common standards could become a positive step in this field.

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